Because Greedfall is so cavalier about its colonialist themes, and because it plays it safe by sticking so closely to the template of open-world RPGs, it doesn't really feel revelatory in any way. Instead, it's content to be just another digital playground--just another world filled with magic, riches, secrets, and monsters for players to shoot and loot at will. I did have fun when I got lost in its familiar RPG loop, but its lack of nuance or innovation prevents it from being truly remarkable.

The latest entry in Capcom's ambitious role-playing series sets out to hunt monsters, but only manages to shoot itself in the foot.

An undeveloped plot, derivative gameplay, idiotic enemies, and boring presentation.

Shattered Haven's inert levels and unwillingness to let you naturally learn obscure its more brilliant moments.

NFL Tour would have made a great arcade game, but as a console game, it's simply too shallow to hold your interest for long.

It's fun to jump in for a few games and rack up points through extravagant slam dunks with your favorite players from the past and present. However, the novelty of arcade-style basketball wears thin quickly in NBA 2K Playgrounds 2.

Some busted mechanics and picky controls will make you think twice before bringing these Ghostbusters on the road.

It provides absolutely nothing that hasn't been seen and done countless times before and done better at that. Unless you're absolutely rapt with morbid curiosity about how Malice ultimately turned out, your time and money are definitely best spent elsewhere.

Tiny Brains might look adorable, but its short length and lack of imaginative puzzles will turn your wide grin into a questioning smirk.

Alien: Rogue Incursion is perhaps a decent Alien game on some VR platforms, but if you're playing it on Quest 3, that should be because it's your only option and you really want to play it for yourself, much like playing an otherwise gorgeous game on the Switch because you prefer some of its unique features over visual fidelity. Even with better visuals on other headsets, Rogue Incursion would still suffer, given its lackluster monster encounters. The VR tools at your disposal are fun, albeit not novel, but more than anything, the game is best enjoyed on the merits of its story. If you're not willing or able to mod Alien: Isolation to play it in VR, then this is the de facto best Alien VR game available, but that doesn't exactly make it a good one.

Unresponsive controls and confusing level design make Rad Spencer's latest adventure an exercise in frustration.

Unfortunately, stellar visuals alone do not make a great game, and ATV Quad Power Racing comes up short in every other possible category.

Soldner does feature some neat innovations...Unfortunately, though, these original elements can't compensate for Soldner's fundamental stability, control, and gameplay problems.

Unresponsive controls and confusing level design make Rad Spencer's latest adventure an exercise in frustration.

Released years after either of its predecessors, in turn borrows elements from both games but combines them in a way that, quite simply, isn't very fun at all.

The game is meant to be played cooperatively, but while connection issues remain, you're likely to muddle through on your own. It's difficult to recommend any game that you endure rather than enjoy, even one this unique.

A forgettable experience, pushing players through the same three minigames over and over again, without ever capturing the thrill of being a wizard. The story lacks focus and is difficult to follow, giving players only the faintest motivation to continue on before it finally ends on an emotionless, anticlimactic note. The Half-Blood Prince squanders its impressive license; you're better off reading the book again.

Sonic and his rivals' latest adventure is rarely fun, often frustrating, and entirely forgettable.

But like its story of fashion and surface appeal, there’s not much depth here, and the facade fades with time. Tri Force Heroes offers us the means to work together, but not enough reason to do so.

Loads of bugs make this remake of the first Serious Sam a serious disappointment.

Twitchy controls and poor presentation eclipse what little fun there is to be had with this middling billiards game.

Dreary and dated.

On the Nintendo DS, Justice League Heroes is a halfhearted beat-'em-up game that does very little to make you feel as if you're controlling your favorite comic book characters.

The only thing devilish about this overblown "Breakout" clone is its crummy collision detection.

Flaky motion controls and an irritating cast of characters suck most of the fun out of this lackluster boarding game.

There are lots of other puzzling decisions. Why no minimap? Why have a tether skill for field movement and puzzles that require summoning Einherjar when they're so rare and arbitrarily placed? Why do I have to replay a whole ungodly long chapter if I missed a Verdant blossom I want to collect? But ultimately, they're minor annoyances compared to the main problem: Valkyrie Elysium is a mostly technically competent game weighed down by the dullness of its story, setting, and strategy. There are glimmers of fun in the combat and some of the dialogue--the rare mid-level Einherjar banter is always welcome--but it's not enough to overcome stifling mediocrity. Valkyrie Elysium is a mere pretender to the glory of this series' past endeavors.

A game that you will have no desire whatsoever to play in your free time, but as soon as you have something important to do, it will become the most interesting thing imaginable.

Depth is the closest I've come to experiencing the kind of fear a game about killer sharks should generate since my younger days of playing Jaws on the NES. Future updates that clean up bugs and add new content could help it breach the surface and approach greatness. Until then, however, Depth floats listlessly in the ocean current.

For every wistful reminder of bygone days and the pleasures of the era, there's a lingering fault or drawback that could have been smoothed over or mended. The issue with Back in the Groove's unwavering faithfulness to its predecessor is inextricable from what makes it occasionally so much fun: It's both captured the good and brought the bad back with it.

Krater makes a fresh first impression, but beneath the surface, you find generic combat and frustrating design elements.

Oddly enough, it's the chaos and destruction that derail FlatOut 3.

198X is a great idea with middling execution. While its games offer some brief enjoyment, there's not enough here for the game to feel like a proper ode to '80s arcades, nor does the Kid's plight, and his longing to escape his current life, totally connect. There's definitely a spark of something here--and Shadowplay, in particular, is a lot of fun--but 198X feels more like a proof of concept than a final product.

It's a disappointing game with a lot of missed potential, and it doesn't convey a good story or the rewarding feeling of surviving against the elements.

Back in 2003, A Wonderful Life offered a refreshing and sentimental take on the farming sim genre. However, even then, it felt a bit empty when compared to what many other simulation games were doing. While Marvelous added greater inclusivity, clarity, and additional events and dialogue, it doesn't keep this 2023 remake from feeling empty and stuck in the past.

It is impossible to enjoy the game as a complete experience because you see everything through the eyes of one of the most vapid gaming protagonists ever created, and do all of your adventuring in a world so sickeningly sweet that you should get screened for adult-onset diabetes the moment you put down the gamepad.

The Adventures of Tintin is a dull and repetitive platformer that does no justice to the exciting exploits of its titular character.

Remnants of Isolation is a truncated RPG that never allows its story or progression system to properly develop, and while the focus on a pair instead of a full party pays off in combat, the woefully undercooked bond between the protagonists never does enough to make you care about any of the three possible endings.

This bare-bones movie tie-in is like a machine with synthetic rubber skin: it's not fooling anyone and you should stay away from it.

Blacksad: Under the Skin works, it's a solid detective game that serves up a case worth cracking, a charismatic lead whose character you can shape in meaningful ways, and an investigation method that successfully wraps you in a brown trenchcoat. But when it doesn’t work you'll find yourself bogged down in the tedium of traipsing around another uninspired location, searching for that final wayward hotspot, and the atmosphere is sucked out of the room.

It provides absolutely nothing that hasn't been seen and done countless times before and done better at that. Unless you're absolutely rapt with morbid curiosity about how Malice ultimately turned out, your time and money are definitely best spent elsewhere.

The PlayStation 2 version of Tiger Woods 08 has no new game modes, fewer courses, and fails to improve on last year's game in any significant way.

Beholder is based on a strong concept, and it has moments that land well, but it’s also held back by repetition and an unexciting script.

For a game that's meant to bear the legacy of a classic series, Mighty No. 9 barely succeeds. It may rouse excitement from time to time, but by and large, it lacks a pervading sense of artistry, both in its level design and presentation.

The Diofield Chronicle probably wants to explore ideas around how power is accumulated and how legitimacy is granted with its tales of warring lords and divine rights. But it never truly engages with them. Characters hedge around such issues, expressing tentative misgivings regarding the nobility of their mission before carrying on regardless. Similarly, in brief conversations, it gestures at the possibility of other ways to structure society, but never actually entertains them. With Andrias and his mercenary company the hammer that sees every problem as a nail, it makes for an unsatisfying narrative arc. Yet as you deploy the same tactics across what may as well be the same battlefield against pretty much the same enemies for the umpteenth time, it's an effective metaphor for the conservative and unimaginative game design.

If the goal was to create a game that's both alive and dead at the same time--mission accomplished.

Though it's an endearing attempt at evoking 16-bit nostalgia, Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 feels a little too dated.

Too many design issues leave this physics-based puzzler grounded.

It's hard to invest in lore that's so inextricably tied to the grind of missions or side-quests, hard to suspend your awareness of that grind when you're awash in constant pitches for boosters and special unlocks.

Getting to play chess or checkers online against friends is pretty much the sole reason to own this ramshackle collection of games.

Ultimately, co-op adds little to the overall package, which is a shame since Homefront definitely needs some help. Its substantial story campaign is impressively rich and its shooting can be tense and fun, but half-baked stealth, an unfulfilling story, and a vast menagerie of technical inadequacies drag the overall experience into disappointing mediocrity.

Condemned Heroes isn't a bad addition to the series, but it is limited and predictable, which might be a tough sell to those who have seen all of this before. Additionally, the intensely frustrating difficulty makes the game an even dicier proposition for casual gamers or series newbies looking to get into some WWII squad combat. So venture into this one only if you're looking for a lot of repetitive reasons to pull out your hair.

Spyro continues his quest for mediocrity in yet another frustrating, unoriginal adventure.

If you really like Dynasty Warriors and you're jonesing for a new strategy game to get into after exhausting all the other brilliant ones available, it's worth a look. But that’s hardly enough of an endorsement in a strategy genre full of far better crafted games, is it.

Pupperazzi is a cute game conceptually, but it falters in its execution, making for an experience that I couldn't get behind despite desperately wanting to extend it all the same affection I have for our four-legged friends. Quite simply, the game fails to capture the liveliness and joy that dogs, art, and games can provide us with. While the premise is unique and wholesome, Pupperazzi is ultimately a lot more bark than bite.

Lost Planet 3 takes narrative steps forward while standardizing its sci-fi action, for better and for worse. It's a decent game, neither a mess nor a triumph.

Myths of the Eastern Realms does what a lot of expansions do: It condenses a larger, more expansive game into something quicker and more approachable. Being able to explore a new area and solve puzzles at a quicker pace can be fun, but without any strong new hooks, it's too stale to maintain much excitement for long and feels like a wasted opportunity to bring the world of Chinese myth to life.

Lost Planet 3 is both less exasperating and less diverse than its predecessors.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam takes the worst elements of both franchises, and smashes them together into a dismally vapid action game.

Zoo Tycoon 2 for the DS is an overly simplistic zoo-management game that won't find many fans over the age of 10.

Garshasp: The Monster Slayer has monstrous ambitions, but it doesn't deliver where it counts.

Lost Planet 3 is a difficult game to hate and an equally difficult game to adore. It might feature monstrous aliens, but it never thinks big.

NFL Tour would have made a great arcade game, but as a console game, it's simply too shallow to hold your interest for long.

Islands of Wakfu presents an enticing fantasy world, but dull combat and an unengaging story squelch its potential.

A decent adaptation of the arcade series, and offers a sometimes enjoyable but extremely brief experience.

A Game of Thrones: Genesis lets down its bright ideas with a bungled campaign and unfulfilling battles.

The dull, repetitive combat and uninspired mission structure prevent At World's End from being much fun.

It offers very few thrills, and instead, an overly cumbersome control scheme and some insanely convoluted level designs suck just about all the fun out of what could have been an entertaining shooter.

The Mario & Sonic series is the perfect example of the kind of charming, bite-sized, and all-inclusive entertainment that defined Nintendo throughout the Wii's golden years, but a lack of creativity and a poor implementation of the Wii U GamePad ensure that Mario & Sonic's fourth outing in six years fails to secure a podium finish.

I did a lot of things in Days Gone. I burned every single Freaker nest; I cleared every ambush camp; I maxed out my bike; I took out a few optional hordes just because. Like Deacon with Sarah, I kept going because I hoped to find something, to follow a thread to a possibly fascinating or satisfying or impactful conclusion. But at the end of it all, I'd only gotten scraps.

A lot of little flaws suck most of the fun out of this take on radio-controlled car racing.

This decidedly old-school role-playing game got a fresh coat of paint but not the complete overhaul it needed.

Island of Happiness offers plenty of satisfying farming gameplay, but the controls will leave you decidedly unhappy.

The Assembly feels like a small part of a bigger, much more engaging game. It's a good foundation for a world full of mystery, but it ends just as it starts to get interesting. A game that fully explores the dystopian facility, its history, and the state of the outside world is something I'd be interested in. However, as it is, The Assembly is hard to recommend.

Jumping over a collapsing bridge in space looks cool once, but it gets silly if you see the exact same collapse twice more within minutes.

Revenge of King Piccolo is more successful as a Dragon Ball primer than as an actual fighting game.

WWE 2K18's in-ring combat is fundamentally flawed, and will be as divisive as it often is. Yet there's no denying the inherent joy derived from performing your favorite Superstar's signature moves.

Miami Law is a simple, short, and thoroughly ridiculous buddy-cop graphic adventure steeped in mediocrity.

WWE 2K18's in-ring combat is fundamentally flawed, and will be as divisive as it often is. Yet there's no denying the inherent joy derived from performing your favorite Superstar's signature moves.

A flimsy PC port showcases why this goofy top-down shooter is best left to mobile devices.

Chronicles ends not with a bang or a whimper, but a shrug.

It simply takes the weakest part of the original game and repackages it with a few ultimately inconsequential bonuses--and then it ends up being even less impressive than that description.

The Dark Pictures, as a broad project, feels like it's at a crossroads with Directive 8020. With plans to do several more installments, I feel like the inherent flaws are giving way to diminishing returns. I've said before that I'd take a new one of these games every year, forever, and I still feel that way, but I think I've hit my limit on forgiving some of the series' increasingly obvious hang-ups. The conscious rejection of Supermassive's past cinematic flair confuses me, while the shoddy voice work creates a barrier between the game's intent and its execution.

Fat Princess Adventures' impactless combat, boring side quests, and confusing user interface all add up into something that isn't exciting or satisfying to play.

Oninaki is a game that frequently sabotages itself. Its beautiful environments and mood are dampened by annoying hordes of samey enemies. Its amazing concept and world design are wasted on a story that's poorly paced and doesn't give you an adequate reason to care. Its varied and interesting combat styles get dragged down by the need to grind Daemons and uneven difficulty overall. There's certainly some beauty to be found in Oninaki's tragic world, but these flaws make this a circle of life that you can skip over.

Even if you can play with others, Godfall's meaty combat eventually begins to wear thin after the umpteenth version of the same fight. This is a shallow game bolstered by decent combat that struggles to bear the weight of an entire game. Uninteresting loot mixed with a monotonous and grindy structure is not a good combination, and for as satisfying and fun as it can often be to hack your way through one battle after another, there's not enough here to sustain that enjoyment for more than a few hours.

This series has remained stagnant for far too long, and WWE 2K18 doesn't change things.

This generic shoot-'em-up fails to breathe any life into its competent action.

The game's overall lack of content makes it one of the last things you'd want to spend 40 bucks on. Even though it manages to capture the occasional burst of Sonic speed, there isn't enough content in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity to keep you entertained for more than two or three laps.

Taken as a tightly cropped slice of the action, Blade Symphony's arena duels showcase some stunning character designs, downright poetic combat maneuvers, and exciting combat mechanics. But that's only a small piece of an unfinished and rather sloppy whole. This multiplayer fighter looks, feels, and actually is incomplete in spots, which puts a real damper on the few bright elements that make it almost worth the fuss.

The game's real problem is simply that it's boring.

Killer Is Dead is filled with Suda 51 eccentricity, but it struggles to stay relevant with inconsistent combat, a poorly told story, and some awkwardly sleazy moments.

Spyro continues his quest for mediocrity in yet another frustrating, unoriginal adventure.

When systems reach a certain level of complexity, they start prompting greater expectations. Why can't you set rally points to automatically ferry your newly produced units where you need them? Why can't you specify hotkeys for fleets or production centers? Why does everything need to be clicked in order to see what it's doing?

Could be entertaining as a novelty for short while, but stops short of becoming a game worth playing for any length of time.

The biggest failing of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is how familiar it feels. In fact, there have been other open-world games starring Spider-Man that walk a remarkably similar path.

A few bright spots prove that this clumsy, unsatisfying film tie-in could have been much better.

Awkward controls and other flaws make it hard to appreciate the innovative and devious puzzles in Open Me.

Even if you're the type of person who finds a picture of Calvin urinating on a Ford or Chevy logo utterly hysterical, you're likely to tire of Ford vs. Chevy's tedious racing mechanics rather quickly.